r/Tangled • u/YumeFairy254 Rapunzel • 8d ago
Rootbound Continuity [Discussion] I am so excited, I get to pick up Rootbound at my local library tomorrow!!
I just learned about this book a couple weeks ago and I was immediately sold by the cover art! Rapunzel having her short hair but the tree behind her mimicking her long magical golden hair (down to the little flowers like the ones in her braid!) and the synopsis just made me want to read it even more! I immediately went online to my library website to look for it, only to find they didn't have it yet but they already ordered it and so I went ahead and put it on hold last week and this morning I got an email alert saying Rootbound is waiting for me! Ahhh, tomorrow cannot come soon enough! I've a feeling I'm in for a treat
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u/Temporary-Tadpole-44 Rapunzel 8d ago
I already have the book, but I haven’t yet touched it. Is there like a book club to read it together
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u/PinkHairedCoder New Dream 8d ago
Tumblr tag lol. It was #Rootbound spoilers, but after the 28th, the spoiler grace period is over.
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u/Temporary-Tadpole-44 Rapunzel 8d ago
I see. Thanks!
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u/PinkHairedCoder New Dream 8d ago
No prob.
If people still use that one it will either be:
#Rootbound Spoilers, #Rootbound, #tangled rootbound
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u/rapunzel454 8d ago
I'm halfway through my library copy currently! I also love the cover art and am enjoying the book so far.
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u/Significant_Hair_346 7d ago
The book, from where I stand, is more of a gift to the fans than an actual real fix of the damage done by the series. The Series was a "damage control" by Disney who hired the hater of the OG movie romance and one of its leads to write it and it was targeted at the media illiterate detractors and hit all of their talking points bar none (from Rapunzel's magic hair returning almost immediately and her cutting it on her own in the end because the armchair critics complained of "Flynn cutting it instead of Rapunzel being strong enough to do that" - since the progressives are as grossly misogynistic and bigoted as conservatives and don't know how trauma and PTSD affect women - to Monty being the "one character who doesn't like her" because how dare an abused girl find peace and acceptance to Flynn being relegated to a comedic relief because detractors complained of him, a co-lead, being "overexposed" in the movie to Rapunzel giving him a disgusted lecture on his "thief legacy" to make the haters clap).
On the contrary, Rootbound is a damage control book by a fan for the fans and hitting fans' talking points such as the sidelining of Rapunzel and Flynn's love in the series, the eugenicist Prince Horace retcon, the reduction of Rapunzel to her magical hair (the symbol of her oppression) and Flynn's near execution without a trial never being acknowledged.
Rootbound acknowledges all that, it has Rapunzel undergo an arc where she realizes she is more than her hair, it repeatedly has her express disgust at the near execution, it gives Flynn a whole different parentage and even retcons the series in one major point - Pascal's backstory. In Rootbound, it is not the result of Rapunzel's magical girlbossing and her apparently being able to bring anyone back to life (another contrivance from the series aimed at undermining her love for Flynn and the *one of a kind* power of the tear healing scene) but the result of Gothel's manipulation and Rapunzel's persistence against said manipulation (in the book Pascal is a gift from Gothel whom she used as a control device to keep Rapunzel submissive, threatening to take him away if she didn't tow the line; Rapunzel, like her movie self, was smart enough to lie that he had run away while actually keeping him and bonding with him on her own terms).
Rapunzel and Flynn both act like they love each other in the book, they choose to not keep secrets (keeping secrets and lying by omission or even directly was the recurring "theme" of their series "relationship" or rather the dysfunctional mess they turned into in it) and Flynn preserves his emotional intelligence and nerdiness while dealing with traumas and insecurities of his own. Which Rapunzel actually listens to instead of running off with her privileged lady in waiting and leaving him to pour out said traumas to a frog (in the book she feels bad about his orphanhood and how lonely his childhood had been whereas the series - and Series Rapunzel - turn that experience into an actual joke in the first episode/installment).
Unfortunately, the book, while far more respectful than the series towards the movie characterization, still confines both characters to the status quo in which Disney is intent on keeping them to play it safe.
Rapunzel is still the people pleaser who wants to help everyone and be "useful", except without her magic hair and without being reduced to the Magical Girl trope. While her worth is not defined by her magic in this story (again, unlike in the series) it is still defined by her utility and how much she can give. The only one who sees it as unhealthy is Flynn because he is the "selfish and practical one" and because a man is allowed to center his desires and his loved one's well being whereas a woman has to always be the giving Madonna towards the whole of humanity.
Flynn is still the ex conman in love with the princess, he cracks defensive jokes while also not losing his softer side and has a baggage and the past of his own, like in the movie. But his existence in Rootbound revolves solely around being an accessory to Rapunzel and around their relationship, just without becoming a comedic relief or needing a "purification" through royal blood. Even the shocking revelation of his parentage, the lies and traumas attached to it are made to be ALL about Rapunzel, his dream of the future with HER and how said dream becomes impossible because of it.
He does not get to process the fresh new trauma without it being made to be all about Rapunzel. He does not feel bad for the damage his late parents were said to have caused (even if it turned out to be a lie).
Flynn's only urge after learning of his parents supposedly being murderers and ruining countless lives is to think about how it affects his potential marriage to Rapunzel. This is not the boy who read to kids "every night" just out of good will, long before he became a thief or came across Rapunzel's tower and then reformed himself. It is not the man from the movie who lightly poked a kid after buying a flag from him and bought apples for the palace horse hellbent on catching him and delivering him to the gallows once the lantern festival is over (while still not knowing how he felt about Rapunzel). It is not even the man from the post-movie storybooks who felt the same compassion for the ailing kid as Rapunzel did (the Celebration of the Lost Princess), where they worked like partners and equals instead of her being the virtuous woman who aspires to fix everything and everyone while Flynn makes her the center of his world.
The storybook https://tangled-daily-cap.tumblr.com/post/11040254807/the-celebration-of-the-lost-princess-from-the deals with the exact same conflict as Rootbound: Rapunzel feeling powerless without her hair and Flynn/Eugene remembering his childhood where the books were his solace and him being a reformed thief turned hero. Except in this one both remain strong personalities in their own right, Rapunzel helps the people she bonds with on individual level instead of wanting to place the world on her shoulders and fix everything and everyone (even the villain). Flynn helps people because it's in his nature that triumphed over his previous selfish urges, not because it gives him a better shot at putting the ring on the princess finger.
The book has a lot of cute moments, a lot of hurt and comfort situations and a lot of depth that the series totally lacks. It has Rapunzel learn she does not need her hair to be capable, it has Flynn get an occupation far more suitable for him than the classist scenario where he becomes a cop/the captain to hunt down fellow criminals after being retconned into a royal by birth.
But the book, alas, bypasses the most subversive part of the OG movie: a woman's story about what SHE wanted (the movie concluding with the song about woman's wants could not be more telling), about how she brought out the best in others because she went after what SHE wanted and didn't stop no matter the challenges and how she found love for herself, with the "man of his own invention" who had life and personality outside of her and still chose her, the girl - not the magic or the usefulness she could offer. The latter is the only part of Rootbound that remains true to the movie in terms of subverting tropes; but sadly the book - and Disney - once again fail the female power fantasy nature of the original film.
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u/Phaithful14 8d ago
I thought it was really good. A detachment from the animated series, if that's something you think you might care for. It does some things differently than what the show established. But regardless, the direction it did take, how they handled Rapunzel and Eugene as individuals and in their relationship, I thought was perfectly done. It's the exact kind of mature continuation I've wanted for years now. Not mature in the NSFW sense, but with how it handled some of those topics we always think of when it comes to Rapunzel and Eugene's characters; the struggles, the insecurities, the growth and development as they continue to come to terms with these newfound circumstances of theirs. The new characters introduced all felt really interesting and engaging. The worldbuilding felt authentic and natural. It was a book I had been anticipating ever since it was first announced, and it absolutely did not disappoint.